Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The 4 Seasons Nightclub was a popular country western bar in Denver until it burned down in the April of 1986. Formerly located at the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Sable Boulevard, The 4 Seasons hosted many well known country acts, including Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Brik is Denver's neighborhood wine bar featuring local musicians and artisan pizza. Lee Tulper revisits the history of Brik on York, located on the cross streets of Colfax Avenue and York Street in Denver, CO.

Chvrchesannounce new tour kicking off in New York City at the iconic Central
Park SummerStage on September 29. Just last week the band announced the
release of their highly anticipated sophomore album, Every Open Eye, due out September 25 via Glassnote Records. The album’s debut single ‘Leave A Trace’(LISTEN HERE)premiered
this past Thursday simultaneously on Sirius XMU and Alt Nation and has
already been praised by music critics across the board, with Billboard calling it “an arena-sized banger.” The track is available to download now as an instant-grat for those pre-ordering the album.

Known for their mesmerizing live show, CHVRCHES will be hitting the road in support of Every Open Eye this fall playing a combination of new music off the album and their classics.

Available now through Wednesday, July 22 at 10 PM EST fans can get access to pre-sale tickets by pre-ordering Every Open Eye from the CHVRCHES store HERE:http://www.chvrchesshop.com/.

Every Open Eye
is the follow up to the band’s breakthrough debut album The Bones of
What You Believe, which was released in autumn 2013 to widespread
critical acclaim and went on to sell over 500,000 copies worldwide. The
Brit Award nominated band clocked in 364 shows in 2 years, selling out
venues across the world and making signature appearances at SXSW (where
they were awarded the inaugural prize for best new act in 2013),
Glastonbury, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Reading & Leeds, and myriad
others.

The
Fillmore box office is open Monday - Friday from 12:00 Noon - 6:00pm
& Saturdays from 10:00am - 2:00pm. On days of Fillmore shows, the
box office is open from 12:00 Noon – 9:00pm.The box office accepts cash, MasterCard, Visa and American Express – No checks!Service charges may apply.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

There are 800 Jews buried on a scraggly hill on the outskirts
of Lakewood, their graves unmarked, unkempt and vandalized. Most years,
the Hill, as the old cemetery is known, doesn’t get mowed more than
once in the spring, leaving graves lost by summer’s end beneath a tangle
of weeds.

When asked why the Hill doesn’t get mowed more than that, one caretaker said, “Because they didn’t pay.”

This year, days before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, weeds were
cut down – a rare sign of care for a plot of land that’s all too often
ignored.

Denver resident Ted Ruskin was shocked when he first saw the Hill, in
1989, which had already suffered from 30 years of neglect. Ruskin owned
a memorial company and also was vice-president of the Synagogue Council
of Greater Denver.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said. “There were a tremendous
number of memorials knocked over, weeds and garbage. It was terrible. I
was appalled.”

Ruskin began marshaling volunteers for an annual cleanup with help
from the Council. He did so until a few years ago, when his eyesight
failed and he had to stop. Since then, more tombstones have been knocked
over, more trash has built up amid the snarl of weeds and rusted
markers, and broken beer bottles litter the cemetery’s “Genizah” grave, a
sacred place for worn-out prayer books.

The main section of the Golden Hill cemetery, started in 1908, is on
the south side of Wide Acres Road in west Lakewood and is still active.
The Hill, on the north side of the road and overlooking downtown Denver,
was established in 1915. The first burial took place that year. No one
has been buried there since the 1980s.

In 1995, the Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, one of only three Jewish cemeteries nationwide with that
distinction.

The whole cemetery was built for Jewish tuberculosis victims, many
who came from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s for the Colorado cure:
isolation from the general population, a good diet, temperate weather
and fresh, dry air. Many faced poverty. Tuberculosis was a disease of
the poor, spread through crowded living conditions.

Jewish tuberculosis patients went to one of two sanitariums in Denver
for the Colorado cure: National Jewish Hospital and the Jewish
Consumptive Relief Society. National Jewish opened in 1899 with a motto
of “none who pay may enter, and none who enter may pay.”

Jeanne Abrams of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of
Denver said that while the hospital did great work, it had rigid rules.
Patients were limited to six months of care, and had to have at least
$50 in savings so they could return home and not be a burden on their
communities.

National Jewish also was nonsectarian, and didn’t observe kosher laws until almost two decades after it opened.

In response to Denver’s need for an observant sanitarium, working
class Jewish men founded the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society in 1904
and recruited Dr. Charles Spivak, a Russian immigrant, to run it. The
organization’s motto, from the Talmud, is “he who saves one life saves
the world.”

Spivak was a pioneer in the treatment of tuberculosis. He believed
people would heal faster in an environment in which they felt
comfortable. So, JCRS had a kosher kitchen from day one, and its staff
respected the Yiddish language spoken by many of its patients.

The Relief Society also differed from National Jewish in another key
way — it took tuberculosis patients in all stages of the disease,
including people who might die just days after their arrival. More than
7,000 were treated at the JCRS sanitarium in its 36-year history, and
scores of them didn’t survive.

Both sanitariums needed a cemetery. Golden Hill, near the foothills,
was the result. It was started by the West Side Benevolent Society, a
mutual aid organization founded by prominent members of Denver’s Jewish
community to buy the land for the cemetery.

For the first few years, all tuberculosis victims, rich and poor,
from JCRS and National Jewish, were buried in the main section of Golden
Hill. Those from JCRS — who tended to be more devout and less well-off
financially — were mostly buried in unmarked graves.

But by 1915, according to a cemetery ledger from the Foothills
Genealogical Society, the poor began to be buried on the Hill so they
wouldn’t “infect” those buried in the main section. According to records
from the Jefferson County Historical Commission, burying tuberculosis
victims on the Hill was a way to segregate them from the general
population, since it was believed back then that people “visiting a
cemetery could contract the disease through the deceased.” The practice
also reflected more than a bit of elitism from wealthy families who
buried their loved ones on more level ground in a meticulously manicured
part of the cemetery just down the hill and to the south.

Records show that families with money spent between 30 cents and a
dollar for a burial. But if burial expenses weren’t paid for, graves
were marked with temporary metal plates, most of which rusted,
disintegrated or have been stolen. Of the 200 tombstones placed on the
hillside, many have succumbed to wind, rain and snow. Or worse. Dozens
have been toppled and shattered by vandals.

“The second there are signs no one’s paying attention, that’s when
the wrong people pay attention,” according to local historian Jennifer
Goodland, who has researched the stories of some of the people buried on
the Hill.

Most of the dead on the Hill were men, since Jewish cemeteries, at
least until the mid-20th century, were segregated by gender. Many were
young — in their 20s and 30s — who had come from their respective “old
countries” in search of promise in the western U.S.

There was Joel Kagan who during World War I served in the “Jewish
Unit” of the Royal Fusiliers, a British army battalion, and was a
prisoner of war in Palestine.

And Martin (Mendel) Abelson, a World War I veteran turned stockbroker
who was a delegate to the 1916 Republican convention, according to a
local paper. Abelson ran on a platform of respecting the rights of
everyone, regardless of nationality, a radical notion in those days.

Morris Rosenberg immigrated from Adampol, Poland, a town of
middle-class and upper-class Jews. He came to the United States during
the 1912-14 peak of Polish immigration. About 20 years later during
World War II, his town of Adampol became a slave-labor subcamp connected
to Sobibor, one of three main Nazi extermination camps. Adampol has no
memorial to its Jews. The last synagogue was torn down in the 1970s and
turned into a parking lot.

One of the first women buried on the Hill was Ida Hayum, who was born
in Lohrhaupten, Germany in 1910. Like many Jews fleeing the rise of the
Nazi Party, she and her husband came to the United States from Europe
in 1935. Her town, Lohrhaupten, had already suffered its share of
anti-Semitic attacks. Violence against Jews cut the population from 59
in 1861 to 21 by 1933. By 1940, the last 18 Jews in Lohrhaupten were
sent to the concentration camps and to their deaths. Like Adampol and
many other communities throughout Europe, Lohrhaupten also never
memorialized its Jewish residents.

Hayum’s and Rosenberg’s graves on the Hill are some of the last reminders that those communities ever existed.

“Never forget,” goes the solemn vow borne out of the Holocaust.

But remembering takes both time and money.

Despite its historical importance for Denver and the Front Range
Jewish community, the Hill shows signs of years of benign neglect
because few funds are available to pay for even the most minimal care.
That care now consists of mowing the hill once a year for Memorial Day,
leaving it overgrown by early summer and looking like a wasteland by the
Jewish high holy days this time of year.
Restoring the Hill and the memory of the 800 buried there will take
money, according to cemetery director Neal Price. But making the Hill a
replica of the main section, with its manicured grass, isn’t in keeping
with the Hill’s historic designation. The cemetery needs new security
fencing, road improvements and foundations for toppled tombstones. The
yucca plants that have overtaken much of the grounds need yanking. The
dirt should be seeded with native grass. Each grave should be properly
marked.

Now nearly blind, Ruskin isn’t able to do the work himself. So he’s
applying for a $25,000 restoration grant to Historic Denver. Price
estimates the total budget at around $100,000, and he also is looking
for funding. The work is vast, Price said.

When the sanitariums needed a place to bury their dead, the West Side
Benevolent Society bought land that was once part of a farm owned by
John Clark Welch, a Golden pioneer who helped found the Colorado School
of Mines.

Today, the farm is long gone. In its place, on the north side of West
Colfax and across the street from the Hill, a multi-story office
building is going up. Businesses line West Colfax from that part of
Lakewood all the way to Denver.

Houses line the streets surrounding the main section of the cemetery on its south and west sides.
But somewhat telling of the Hill, its nearest neighbor, on its west side, is an empty warehouse that has been vacant for years.

Photo credit: Jennifer Goodland

Thanks to Historian Jennifer Goodland of Big Year Colorado for
this story and for her invaluable assistance throughout this project.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

One of the city’s most celebrated neighborhood theatres
opened in October, 1926 to great fanfare. The premier was covered by a
throng of reporters and was attended by some of Denver’s most notable
names. Flowers piled high and telegrams arrived from Hollywood studio
heads and movie stars.

The public was held in awe at what they found inside:
thick, luxurious carpets in jade green, wide, plush seats, an expansive
auditorium ceiling painted sky blue with hundreds of tiny, twinkling
lights that looked like stars when the house lights were turned down, a
completely equipped nursery, a large waiting room and an exotic smoking
lounge. They found Arabian murals and decorations, and even a bubbling
fountain. Everything inside was worthy of Ali Baba himself, down to the
drapes and furnishings, wrought iron and blown glass hanging lanterns
and standing lamps.

It was truly “The Arabian Nights Meets the Rockies”.
The auditorium had a large orchestra pit and a 14 rank electric theater
organ. When movies weren’t being shown, the screen was lifted to expose
the large stage, big enough to hold almost any entertainment venue.

Opening night featured a short organ concert followed
by a soprano solo of “Allah’s Garden of Roses”, which was written
especially for the premier. That was followed by “A Dream of India”, and
several numbers played by Dahl’s Arabian Nights Orchestra. A stage show
included a bevy of girls in blond wigs and black shorts and tops
dancing the Black Bottom. The first movie shown at the Aladdin was
“Across the Pacific”, starring Monte Blue and Myrna Loy.

The Aladdin Theatre opened in the days of the silent
movies, but management was quick to pick up on the latest technology:
sound. Although a few theatres in Denver had experimented with the sound
process, in February, 1927 the Aladdin Theatre had a showing of its
first Vitaphone film, “Don Juan”, starring John Barrymore, grandfather
of actress Drew Barrymore. The film featured synchronized music and a
short lecture by Will Hays, Hollywood movie czar. Later that same year,
the public was treated to a run of “The Jazz Singer”, with Al Jolson,
which is generally recognized by movie historians as the film that
ushered in the talkies.

The Aladdin Theatre was built on a site formerly
occupied by a mansion belonging to Ed Chase, an early theater owner and
well-known gambling kingpin.

The Aladdin Theatre enjoyed a long, successful run as a
first-run movie house. It survived after many of the big screen
theatres downtown had closed their doors. It even survived the
introduction of television to Denver – for a while, at least. The
theatre tried beefing up its patronage by showing cutting-edge films
such as “The Moon Is Blue”, with William Holden, a racy (for its time)
story about a love triangle, and “The Man With the Golden Arm”, a movie
about a strung out junkie, starring Frank Sinatra. The neighborhood kids
weren’t left out, though. Saturdays were the days when children would
pack the theatre to see the latest Western or sci-fi flick, usually
followed by a talent show or yo-yo contest, where prizes were given:
anything from free passes to a brand new bike.
In the late-1970’s, revenues started to slip, in spite
of showing such Hollywood hits as “The Omen” and “The Duchess and the
Dirtwater Fox”. Part of the reason was the continuing flight by many to
the suburbs, the growing popularity of the smaller multiplex theatres,
and the decline of the Aladdin’s neighborhood in general.

In the early-1980’s, Aladdin management decided to drop
film fare entirely and replace it with live theatre. The interior was
remodeled to accommodate the necessary scenery, and the seating
arrngement was reduced to a smaller, more intinate design. A liquor
license was applied for, and a team of non-union actors was formed as a
sort of in-house troupe. The offerings over the next few years included
“West Side Story”, “Man of La Mancha”, “Pippin”, and “Pirates of
Penzance”. While this venue was mildly successful, it never really
caught on. Reasons varied, one of which was that, by then, Capitol Hill
had gained a wide reputation as a rough neighborhood, and many people
were reluctant to travel to the area, particularly after dark.

By 1984, the Aladdin Theatre was up for sale. City
council gave the okay to level the theatre for a planned retail and
condo complex. Nothing ever came of it. Capitol Hill United Neighbors
(CHUN) wanted the theatre designated an historic landmark, a prospect
that was fought by the current owner. After a few meek attempts to find a
use for the aging building, including a propsed restaurant and
nightclub, the Aladdin Theatre was wrecked in August, 1984 to make way
for a Walgreen drugstore.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Here’s a cool video from the Reimagine West Colfax event last month that converted West Colfax Avenue from a street designed strictly for cars into a place for people to gather, walk, and bike safely. The above time lapse shows volunteers constructing a parklet — a miniature gathering place reclaimed from traffic lanes or parking spaces — from basic materials.

The event was a success, and proved that West Colfax is in dire need of a permanent transformation. It also showed how advocates, merchants, and neighborhood residents can create a spark by taking ownership of city streets. They raised the money and put in the work to show city agencies what the neighborhood can be, and now it’s up to those agencies to listen and act.

To capitalize on the demo’s success, the West Colfax Business Improvement District, which led the effort, is hosting a charrette on “artist-inspired” crosswalks. Head over to Studio Completiva at 3275 West 14th Ave. #201 at noon this Tuesday if you’re interested in helping.

In the meantime, check out this time lapse of volunteers converting a lifeless West Colfax wall into a work of art.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Meet by the fence across the road from the Madonna Mausoleum. The main entrance to Mount Olivet is west of Youngfield Street on West 44th Avenue. Go up the hill past the administration building to near where there is a big crucifix. On your left is the Madonna Mausoleum. (Coming from the east take exit 266 on Ward Road from I-70 and go west about a half mile to the cemetery. Coming from the west take exit 265 at Youngfield. and go north about a mile to West 44th Avenue and turn left. The cemetery is the first exit on the right.) The cost is $10.

Sunday, September 27: Park Hill Promise, 11:00 am–4:00 pm

Phil Goodstein will be hustling his books, especially Park Hill Promise, at the Park Hill Street Fair. This is a free event. The booth should be near Montview Boulevard and Forest Street Parkway.

Sunday, October 4: Crown Hill Cemetery, 11:00 am–1:00 pm

Gather at the parking lot along the main road of the graveyard, just west of the administration building
along West 29th Avenue about two blocks west of Wadsworth Boulevard. The cost is $10.00.

Saturday, October 10: Ghosts of Cheesman Park, 11:00 am–1:00 pm

Meet at the wooden gazebo near the equivalent of 12th Avenue and Gilpin Street. It is directly south
of the RTD bus stop on the 12th Avenue loop in the park. Gilpin Street is the 1700 east block. Park
in the park, east bound, on the 12th Avenue loop to the east of the RTD stop. The cost is $10.

Saturday, October 17: Ghost Walk, 7:00 pm–9:00 pm

Meet at the statute of the Indian on the east lawn of the Capitol along Grant Street between Colfax
and 14th avenues. The cost is $20.00.

Friday, October 23: Ghost Walk, 7:00 pm–9:00 pm

Meet at the statute of the Indian on the east lawn of the Capitol along Grant Street between Colfax
and 14th avenues. The cost is $20.00.

Saturday, October 24: Ghost Walk, 7:00 pm–9:00 pm

Meet at the statute of the Indian on the east lawn of the Capitol along Grant Street between Colfax
and 14th avenues. The cost is $20.00.

Friday, October 30: Ghost Walk, 7:00 pm–9:00 pm

Meet at the statute of the Indian on the east lawn of the Capitol along Grant Street between Colfax
and 14th avenues. The cost is $20.00.

Saturday, October 31: Ghost Walk, 7:00 pm–9:00 pm

Meet at the statute of the Indian on the east lawn of the Capitol along Grant Street between Colfax
and 14th avenues. The cost is $20.00.

Monday, November 16: How the West Side Won, 7:00 pm

This is a free talk at the Colfax Tattered Cover (at Elizabeth Street) on the publication of Phil Goodstein’s
new book, How the West Side Won.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat Returns to Denver on September 12 for a Day of Bikes, Beer and Bon Vivants

Daylong celebration includes ridiculous entertainment, wild and crazy costumes, hilarity in charity and New Belgium beer!

Ft. Collins, Colo., August 25, 2015 – Dust off the costume, shine up the bike and get ready for another epic and bewildering day as Tour de Fat rolls into Denver. Tour de Fat arrives
in City Park on Saturday, September 12. The daylong event is free, yet
all donations and proceeds from beer and merchandise sales go to
Denver-area non-profits.

“Maybe you already bike all over
town, or you’re a weekend warrior, or just a little bike curious,” said
Matt Kowal, New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat Impresario. “If so, this
is for you. It’s a summer stew of sorts where we all come together, let
our alter egos shine with no inhibitions. You’ll find dancing, contests,
bike swapping, music making and a tiny tent where anything can happen.
It’s one carnival you’ll actually regret missing.”

Some of the eclectic entertainment includes co-headliners Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds – who recently performed on The Today Show– and The Suffers, a ten-piece band from Houston recently featured on the Late Show with David Letterman,
who will bring the redefined sound of Gulf Coast Soul to the Mile High
City. Brewing education, a bicycle revival, rideable art bikes, a
“Thousand Person Dance Contest” to win a New Belgium cruiser bike, yo-yo
performers, vaudeville acts and a fashion show are also in the mix. In
addition, Tour de Fat’s Le Tigre Grande variety tent ups the ante,
adding more entertainment options from past years.

Everyone 21
and older can sample new and classic favorites from New Belgium,
including the brewery’s flagship brew, Fat Tire, New Belgium’s latest
year-round offering, Slow Ride Session IPA, and selections from the
acclaimed Lips of Faith series.

As for the fundraising, the
entire 2014 season raised more than $625,000, with the Denver stop
bringing in a record-breaking $101,003. This year, all funds raised in
Denver will go to BikeDenver and The Denver Cruisers.

100th! Car-for-Bike Swap
Every year, New Belgium gets one brave role model to step on stage to
trade in his or her car keys for a bike, pledging to live car-free for
one year. Each swapper is awarded a stipend to buy his or her own
commuter bike. Car-for-Bike swappers are chosen after submitting an
application describing why they are ready to give up their vehicle for
the gift of two wheels. This year, the Car-for-Bike swapper in Denver
will be New Belgium’s 100th bicycling hero! We’d love to hear from
interested swappers. Apply at - NewBelgium.com/Events/Tour-de-Fat/CarTrader.

Pre-Registration
You can pre-register and donate to receive a limited edition Tour de Fat license plate or bike light at http://bit.ly/1IYW5ra.

See Facebook.com/TourDeFat for
the Tour de Fat credo, schedules, videos and to submit an entry to swap
your vehicle for a fancy new bicycle. For more on the Denver stop,
click here.

About New Belgium Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of
Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best
Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small
Businesses. The 100% employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle
Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists,
one of World Blu’s Most Freedom-Centered Workplaces, and a Certified B
Corp. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews ten year-round beers;
Ranger IPA, Rampant Imperial IPA, Shift Pale Lager, Slow Ride Session
IPA, Snapshot Wheat, Sunshine Wheat, 1554 Black Lager, Blue Paddle
Pilsner, Abbey Belgian Ale and Trippel. Learn more at NewBelgium.com.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

I have this on no less of an authority than Bob Anderson,
one of the Kmart workers who conceived the blue-light idea. It took place 30
years ago at the first Kmart store in the Denver area, No. 4101 at 7325 W.
Colfax Avenue.

“Self-help department stores were a new idea, “Anderson
writes,” we hhad a whole new merchandising system. I was managing mens-wear. We
had to have a fast turnover for it to work.

“When we had slow moving items, we had to move them out. We
announced “15 minute specials” (on the store’s public address system), but
people couldn’t find out where they were. We tried helium balloons, beach balls
suspended in the air over vacuum cleaners, but customers still couldn’t find
us.

“We rigged up a cart used to carry shirts and other items to
the counters where they were to be displayed. There was a tub on the top and a
shelf at the bottom. We put the car battery on the shelf, a chrome tube through
the middle of the cart with a blinking red light at the top.

“We would move it from department to department, and on
Saturdays and Sundays, we kept it going all day long. It was a instant success.
The Fire Department made us change the light from red to blue because the color
red had the exclusive function of marking exits.

The district manager saw it and put the system in all his
stores. Within six months, flashing blue lights were in every Kmart store in
the nation. I’ll be that even the Kmart historians don’t know how it got
started but I do—and now you do too!

“The story might bore the hell out of people, but it is an
event in the history of merchandising and perhaps the closes thing I have to
achieve celebrity status.”

Not only that, but the “Attention, Kmart Shoppers”
announcements over the stores’ PA systems are still the stock and trade of
comedians who stand in front of brick walls on cable TV and think they are
making people laugh by using the MF words.

We are indebted to celebrity Bob Anderson for the
information. Now, if we can just find out how “red-tag sales” started. My
earliest recollection of them was 40 years ago at Nessie Nides’ appliance store
on East Colfax during one of her frequent “sell-a-brations”.

Author Gene Amole - from his book "Amole One More Time" - October 8, 1992